Flash memory is an improved form of Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM). Traditional EEPROM devices are only capable of erasing or writing one memory location at a time. In contrast, flash memory allows multiple memory locations to be erased or written in one programming operation. Flash memory can thus operate at higher effective speeds than traditional EEPROM.
Flash memory enjoys a number of advantages over other storage devices. It generally offers faster read access times and better shock resistance than a hard disk drive (HDD). Unlike dynamic random access memory (DRAM), flash memory is non-volatile, meaning that data stored in a flash storage device is not lost when power to the device is removed. For this reason, a flash memory device is frequently referred to as a flash storage device, to differentiate it from volatile forms of memory. These advantages, and others, may explain the increasing popularity of flash memory for storage applications in devices such as memory cards, USB flash drives, mobile phones, digital cameras, mass storage devices, MP3 players and the like.
Current flash storage devices suffer from a number of limitations. Although flash memory can be read or written at the physical page level, it can only be erased or rewritten at the block level. Beginning with a pre-erased block, data can be written to any physical page within that block. However, once data has been written to a physical page, the contents of that physical page cannot be changed until the entire block containing that physical page is erased. In other words, while flash memory can support random-access read and write operations, it can not support random-access rewrite or erase operations.
Generally, a flash storage device is comprised of large physical blocks that are optimized for large block sequential data transfer. Consequently, there is considerable overhead in the block carry-over and garbage collection which adversely impact write performance. As the density of a flash storage device increases, the number of blocks is increased, resulting in even more overhead and lower performance for write operations.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved memory controllers and memory management methods to improve the write performance of flash storage devices. The present invention satisfies this need and provides other advantages as well.